Gaza Resist

The armed Palestinian groups in Gaza have agreed to halt rocket assault on Israel, senior commander of Islamic Jihad announced yesterday. “We have agreed a way to stop the armed resistance the firing of rockets on Israel to prevent the Israeli threats,” said Daoud Shihab, a representative of the Islamic Jihad, “but the armed resistance must be actively raid targeting the [Israeli] and incursions.”

The decision to suspend the firing of rockets, however, was “temporary” and “linked connection with the situation on the ground”. The agreement between smaller factions based in Gaza, reached Wednesday at a meeting called by Hamas, coincides with rising tensions due to an escalation of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli reprisals.

Israeli shelling and gunfire have killed at least 14 Palestinians this month and aggressive rhetoric on both sides has prompted concerns that a new war could ensue if violent exchanges do not end. Islamic Jihad, the Popular Struggle Front and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have come under strong pressure from Hamas, which rules Gaza, to abide by the ceasefire reached in January 2009, ending Israel’s all-out offensive against the Strip.

It has caused widespread destruction and has killed more than 1,440 people, most of them civilians. Hamas’s political leadership has also had to impose its will on the movement’s own military wing, the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, which has suspended the firing of missiles into Israel but has ex- pressed determination to continue mounting attacks on Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Spokesman Abu Ubayda said the force was observing the 2009 ceasefire with respect to rockets to prevent Gaza from being drawn into a new war. “However, if that war erupts, we will not stand by with our hands folded; we will fight fiercely.” The brigades’ statement was issued a day after Mahmoud Zahar, a senior political figure regarded as a hardliner, said Hamas was committed to the truce and called on other factions to abide by it.

Palestinian analyst Wisam Afifa expressed the view of many in Gaza when he argued that Israel was preparing for a second Gaza war. He said the Israeli military did not achieve its objectives in the 2008- 2009 war – the collapse of the de facto Hamas government and the elimination of armed resistance.

The Israelis “want to restore their deterrence and they know that the resistance took advantage of the ceasefire to upgrade its military skills”. He added: “Hamas is not planning to confront the Israeli army and is trying to avoid providing the Israelis with any pretext to wage war again.”

Hamas has tried unsuccessfully to forge an end to rocket to a lifting of Israeli siege and blockade of Gaza to allow building materials, so Gazans could rebuild the houses and shops were destroyed during the war. But construction is still prohibited, even if Israel eased the blockade slightly since last summer after the Israeli raid in naval commandos on a ferry blockade Turkish snack.

One in four customers throughout Asia and the Pacific looking to get their passports stamped to leave for a vacation in the next six months, after the results of a recent survey by MasterCard. The poll, conducted from September 13 to November 11, covered 10,502 customers in 24 markets in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Japan continues to rank as the most popular travel destination, followed by China and Australia for respondents in Asia Pacific. Spending on travel continues to hold strong in the Middle East region, with 36% of respondents looking to pack their bags and head off for a vacation.

The survey also reveals a continuing interest of consumers travel to destinations inside. 88% of potential tourists in Asia said he wanted to explore close to home. Middle East, 56% of respondents plan to travel to the region are looking for.

Contrary to this trend of promoting intra-regional destinations, the majority of respondents in Africa are looking to travel to Europe (68%) and North America (49%).

December 23rd, 2010
Celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem
Nabil Tarazi, 50 year old Christian who lives with his family in Gaza, said he would do anything for a chance to go to the holy city of Bethlehem for Christmas on Friday. Tarazi, who is official in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), told Xinhua that he is still waiting for an Israeli response to his request for a temporary passport to go with his family from Bethlehem to Gaza for the next July

“I tried the Israelis three weeks ago, and has so far received no reply,” he said. Local media have reported that Israel will only offer licenses to transmit around 300 Christians this year, a total of 3000 Christians in Gaza between 1.8 million people to visit Bethlehem for Christmas.

Israel has decided this year that Christians under the age of 35 can’t get permission to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas, Tarazi said. “I really miss and miss Bethlehem Christmas party there. The religious rituals and prayers in the holy city are so important to us. Here in the Gaza Strip, which suffers the Israeli siege, we can celebrate Christmas, but won’t be as beautiful as it is in Bethlehem,” Tarazi said.

In the Gaza Strip, there are two major Churches, a Catholic Church and a Greek Orthodox Church. The 3,000 Gaza Strip Christians usually celebrate Christmas and New Year at the churches and feast with each other during the festivals, despite the hard living conditions due to more than three years of an Israeli blockade and political split between Gaza and the West Bank.

Tarazi said the situation in the Gaza Strip has equally influenced religious feasts and celebrations of both Muslims and Christians. The internal Palestinian political split and the siege have negatively affected all aspects of life, he said.

The Christians in the Gaza Strip have been unable to light and ornament the Christmas tree in Gaza City’s main square since 2006. The streets of Gaza used to be full of lights and ornaments on the Christmas Eve four years ago, where there are only small-scale celebrations taking place nowadays.

Meanwhile, although Christians can freely practice their prayers and other religious rituals on holy holidays, the Hamas movement, which rules the coastal enclave, imposes restrictions on bringing wines to Gaza, which is forbidden by the Islamic law.

Kamel Ayyad, who is in charge of public relations at the council of the Arab Orthodox Churches in Gaza, told Xinhua that the rituals of this year’s Christmas will only include prayers at churches and family visits, due to the situation in Gaza and the Israeli restrictions on Christians’ movement.

“Christians in Gaza are looking forward to spending Christmas in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Visit the Church of the Nativity is so important to us, and the Christian community in Gaza child has never felt the Christmas mood as do Muslims on their holidays,” said Ayyad.